Against the Grain is your key to the latest news about libraries, publishers, book jobbers, and subscription agents. Our goal is to link publishers, vendors, and librarians by reporting on the issues, literature, and people that impact the world of books and journals.

On today’s show, we will hear from Nancy Maron,
President and Founder of BlueSky to BluePrint, a strategic
consulting firm helping publishers, librarians, and leaders of
digital initiatives to develop sustainable business models.
Website

Comments from today’s co-host:

You know, Bill Hannay is going to be a hard act to follow from
the last episode, but I’m going to do my best. No singing though!
I’m Leah Hinds, Assistant Director of the
Charleston Conference, and the Director of Marketing and Promotions
and Editor of the ATG NewsChannel website for Against the Grain.
I’ve worked in various roles and projects with the Conference and
ATG since 2005. I love the changing nature of event planning and
organization for the conference – there are new challenges and new
people to work with each year so it’s always a little different.
But most of all, I really admire Katina’s philosophy behind the
whole thing – bringing librarians, publishers, vendors,
consultants, and others together on a level playing field, giving a
platform for new voices, and inviting diverse viewpoints across the
information and scholarly communication industry. That also holds
true for Against the Grain, both in print and online, and this
allows the conversations to continue throughout the year and not
just for a week in Charleston.

A little personal background, I live on a small farm in rural SC
about 2 hours from Charleston. I started my day with twin baby
goats fighting over who got to sit in my lap, which was just about
the cutest thing ever. I’m a volunteer with our local 4-H club and
I go to lots of shows and meetings with my kids and our various
animals.

Today, I’m chatting with Nancy L. Maron. Nancy is President and
Founder of BlueSky to BluePrint, a strategic consulting firm
helping publishers, librarians, and leaders of digital initiatives
to develop sustainable business models. This grew out of a career
spent working with and for publishers, libraries, and booksellers,
and an ongoing fascination with all the ways that new technologies
can influence the way we create, consume, and enjoy
information.

She is author of several studies concerning publishing, digital
humanities, and business models including The Costs of Publishing
Monographs (2016) and sustaining the Digital Humanities: Host
Institution Support beyond the Start-up Phase (2014), and with
co-author Kim Schmelzinger of the Monograph Costing Tool, released
by AAUP in 2016. In 2012, she joined the Board of the Yonkers
Public Library, a three-branch system serving a city of nearly
200,000 residents. As Board President since 2014, she has
spearheaded several key initiatives, including a national search
for Library Director, the 2015 Library Gala, and development of the
YPL Strategic Plan, 2017-2021.

In an article published in InsideHigherEd.com, it is reported
that The University of California, Berkeley, will cut off public
access to tens of thousands of video lectures and podcasts in
response to a U.S. Justice Department order that it make the
educational content accessible to people with disabilities. Today,
the content is available to the public on YouTube, iTunes U and the
university’s webcast.berkeley site.

On March 15, the university will begin removing the more than
20,000 audio and video files from those platforms -- a process that
will take three to five months -- and require users sign in with
University of California credentials to view or listen to them.
Read the article

The Charleston Conference welcomes proposals for pre-conference
sessions at our upcoming 2017 event to be held November 6 – 10.
Pre-conferences will be scheduled on the Monday or Tuesday before
the main Charleston Conference. We are also open to new formats and
ideas, such as post-conference sessions on Friday afternoon or
Saturday. These are intended to be in-depth learning sessions that
will offer a deeper, more thorough look at topics related to
collection development and acquisitions. The proposal deadline is
April 28 and space is very limited. Please review our proposal
guidelines and submit your ideas online here.

Adam Chesler has been promoted to Director,
Global Sales, AIP Publishing. Adam will lead the Global Sales and
Sales Support teams with a keen focus on driving sales activity to
academic, government, and corporate libraries around the world.
Adam has been with AIP Publishing for a year and a half and has
made some significant contributions to the organization as a Senior
Sales Manager.

In addition to his contributions, Adam is a conference director
for the Charleston Conference. When he is not working Adam can be
found eating ice cream, watching baseball and volunteering at his
public library (and on rare occasions all three at once).

Michael Duffy has been appointed Director of
Library Sales, SAGE Publishing. He will oversee SAGE’s North
American Library Sales Team. Michael joined SAGE Publishing as
Library Sales Manager in 2011 and quickly moved from Senior Library
Sales Manager to District Library Sales Manager to his current role
as Director. Previously, he worked in sales at Thomson Reuters and
in editorial capacities at Oxford University Press and Wolters
Kluwer, among other organizations. Michael holds a Master of
Science degree in Publishing from Pace University.

Two librarians in the big news recently! Our Librarian of
Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden was recently profiled
in the New Yorker, February 19, 2017 by Sarah Larson. It is
inspirational to see what Dr. Hayden has accomplished and we are
sure that there is much more greatness to come! Read the article.

Another Librarian in the news, our 2016 keynote speaker and the
president elect of ALA, Jim Neal, had an op ed in
The Hill about fair use, entitled “Balance is Everything.” Read the article.

We also have a video of Jim Neal on the Charleston Library
Conference website, where he as interviewed as part of the “Views
from the Penthouse Suite” series. You can also listen to Jim Neal
in episode two of the podcast.

And finally, OCLC has appointed Monika
Sengul-Jones as Wikipedian-in-Residence for Wikipedia +
Libraries: Better Together, a project led by OCLC's WebJunction
program.

Sengul-Jones will work with WebJunction to design and deliver an
online training program that will introduce U.S. public librarians
to the innerworkings of Wikipedia this fall. The training will
enable librarians to edit Wikipedia, guide patrons in its use and
lead local Wikipedia-based community engagement programs with
confidence. In her role, Sengul-Jones will also foster connections
between public librarians and Wikipedia's volunteer editor
community. Read the press release.

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About the Podcast

The audio supplement to "Against The Grain - Linking Publishers, Vendors and Librarians"
Against the Grain is your key to the latest news about libraries, publishers, book jobbers, and subscription agents. Our goal is to link publishers, vendors, and librarians by reporting on the issues, literature, and people that impact the world of books and journals.